A.G Russell Hollow Ground Sting

It's kind of hard to believe that something this cute is an illegal weapon. It is made in Taiwan but to overcome that, Russell detailed a history of trying to get it made in Germany but the GMBh or other factors didn't step up and do the work so they moved it to Chancre Jack's Island with stipulations that they use real 440C steel and other top quality materials saying that 440c is better than the steel used in the old '80s Stings. In real life, it looks just like their pictures. The boot/belt sheath is good leather and well-stitched. Something this sharp is always a useful tool.

It arrived in the box, butter-knife dull but after a brief amount of time with stones and leather took on the shaving edge that is to be expected with 440c
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=199991&stc=1&d=1403558221

Neat knife, and completely legal in Georgia and many other states. Join and support Knife Rights if you'd like it be legal in more states. :)

mec

June 23, 2014, 06:31 PM

texas just legalized switchblades- at least those that arn't also stilletos, dirks, dagger or poniards. A lock-blade,folding hunter- bigger than this boot knife is also legal. Just as a guess*, something like this used as a pocket/utility knife would not arouse much police action -particularly if you had a perfectly legal handgun hanging under your arm. At most, it might be a final straw if the police perceived you acting weird or he had become pissed off and was already looking for a way to get you off the street.
-a guess-* =not a challenge for debate.

BHarada

June 23, 2014, 07:05 PM

Nice. I bought mine in 1977, my freshman year in high school, shortly after reading The Hobbit for the first time. :D

Legal in plenty of states these days thanks to the progress Knife Rights is making converting antiquated silly knife laws one state at a time (sometimes two).

mec

June 23, 2014, 08:18 PM

that is pretty and kind of valuable too.

krupparms

June 28, 2014, 12:51 PM

Those are nice looking blades! I had wanted one for years like that, but I was given a black CRKT model as a gift. It's illegal to carry here so it sits with the other "Daggers "put up for now. It came with a sheath / harness. I am looking for a leather sheath for it. I will be glad when we get some decent knife laws here! When I moved here, they tryed to get me on a unlawful wepons charge! A 1 1/2" dagger! The judge threw out the charge & made them give it back! Took an order from the judge as S.O. DID NOT want to return it!

mec

June 28, 2014, 01:27 PM

" If the law says that, then the Law is a ass, a idiot!" -Parochial Beedle, Mr. Bumble.

Law is in a state of gradual flux. In the Texas PC of 1977, all three were illegal. The next years they took out the part about blades that lock open. All three were still illegal. The handguns came first in 1996, Then, last year, the auto knives got the seal of approval- the one in the picture goes "snicker-snack! when you move the lever and flies open.
It legal to carry the pistol and the auto knife now but the cute little dagger is still out in the cold.
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=200120&stc=1&d=1403976008

hso

June 28, 2014, 02:26 PM

The process of getting rid of stupid laws is often like eating an elephant. You gotta take one bite, chew, swallow, and come back for more. It might take years of getting all the stupid out, but if you keep chewing away at it eventually you'll make it.

mec

June 28, 2014, 03:05 PM

maybe but elephants are reported to be a lot like possums- the more you chew the bigger they get.

krupparms

June 28, 2014, 04:12 PM

The first one I saw & got to handle was in 1977 & looked like the one in post 4. It was owned & used by another Security Police Officer. It was very popular and I saw several more that were carried by S.P.O.s . The Gerber daggers were popular also. We could carry these off base if on duty or coming or going to work. Most carried all the time as we often attacked by civilians that hated military personal ( Things were different back then! )! We learned quick & kept deployment bags in car so we could claim to be going to or from work! Thankfully I was able to avoid problems most of the time. But I do miss carrying some of my favorite blades. !

mec

June 28, 2014, 04:20 PM

The gerber combat knives were all over the place in the 60s

lemaymiami

June 28, 2014, 06:53 PM

During a 22 year career in law enforcement (1973-1995) - I never would have considered that blade (or any other, except a switchblade...) to be an "illegal weapon" here in Florida. I did make my share of arrests for edged weapons -but it was always what you were doing with it that was the problem - not mere ownership. Yes, it was then, and (I believe) still is illegal to carry one concealed on your person, though -unless licensed or in law enforcement.

If that has changed since I retired I'd be glad to hear of it....

mec

June 28, 2014, 08:00 PM

florida has licenses that cover knives but texas oly has handgun licenses. A little bitty double-edge might fly under the radar though, if the guy also had legally holstered handgun.

bannockburn

June 30, 2014, 07:02 AM

I remember seeing the original Sting in A.G. Russell's catalog when it was introduced. I thought at the time it was a very elegant looking knife and was going to get one but back then funds were limited. Over the years I did manage to pick up several other knives that were of a similar nature in their design and purpose.
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z334/TailoAltera/knives2018_zps32c87c4f.jpg (http://s1184.photobucket.com/user/TailoAltera/media/knives2018_zps32c87c4f.jpg.html)
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z334/TailoAltera/knives2020_zpsdaf147ef.jpg (http://s1184.photobucket.com/user/TailoAltera/media/knives2020_zpsdaf147ef.jpg.html)
URL=http://s1184.photobucket.com/user/TailoAltera/media/knives2010_zps6b1ecde0.jpg.html]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z334/TailoAltera/knives2010_zps6b1ecde0.jpg[/URL]

lemaymiami

June 30, 2014, 08:40 AM

My own is a Gerber Guardian, a bit smaller - but still a pretty good crotch stabber...

krupparms

June 30, 2014, 06:57 PM

That Gerber looks like one in my collection. The Gerber was widely copied & still makes a good dagger. I have a few Jaguar daggers & Blackjack daggers all good Japanese steel. I have several nice Bowie's that are illegal to carry because of size, but have been used for hunting. Plus I love collecting them also! As a collector I hate that I can't carry what I want. But that does help keep them in great shape, sitting in the safe! BTW. My Sting is marked 'Forged • 1050 ' not 440! As I received mine as a gift, I can always buy a regular model. I could even get one used in good condition with 440 steel!

mec

June 30, 2014, 07:14 PM

that sting with 1050 sounds like the columbia river version. I kind of wonder what the first stings were since Russel claims the 440c on their current on is better.

ugaarguy

June 30, 2014, 07:26 PM

The Gerber was widely copied & still makes a good dagger.
The Gerber is just a copy of the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife, itself a derivative of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife. In fact, daggers are known to have been in use in Egypt before the time of Pharaohs. The solid gold dagger entombed with King Tutankhamen differs very little in form from the modern daggers shown in this thread - http://www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl43.htm. One can only change the form of a dagger so much before it ceases to be a dagger.

hso

June 30, 2014, 08:39 PM

The Gerber is just a copy of the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife

I hadn't heard that. Did something from Gerber come out to that effect? I have read claims that the MkII was derivative of the FS, but not the Mk I.

MCMXI

July 4, 2014, 09:13 PM

The Gerber is just a copy of the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife, itself a derivative of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.

I don't know how the knife below fits in to all this but I bought it at least 15 years ago in Hawaii. It came with only the serrated side of the blade having a sharp edge. A few years ago I started to put an edge on the other side of the blade. I was thinking that it might make a good deer and elk knife.

http://thr.mcmxi.org/knives/gerber/photos/gerber_combat_folder.jpg

ugaarguy

July 4, 2014, 10:48 PM

I don't know how the knife below fits in to all this
That's a 1990's folding version of the Apllegate-Fairbairn Fighting Knife. While looking for pictures of the early A-F knives (late WWII / early post war) I found an interesting article detailing the decades long prototyping process of Col. Applegate's modifications to the Fairbairn-Sykes to bring about the A-F fighting knife as we now know it. I'd not realized that it actually took until 1986 to get only a few hundred handmade examples built by a single maker.

I hadn't heard that. Did something from Gerber come out to that effect? I have read claims that the MkII was derivative of the FS, but not the Mk I.
Until this evening I was under the false impression that the A-F was in close to current form almost immediately after WWII. In retrospect, calling the MKI a copy is not accurate. It would be more accurate to say cues from Sykes' , Fairbairn's, and Applegate's renditions of a fighting dagger are evident (to my eye) in the MKI.